RUBY.
Yakut, . ARAB., PERS. Merab, Manikam, MALAY. Rubin, . DA., GER., SW. Rubim, . roar., itcs. Robijn, . . . . DUT. . .
Rubio, Fa. Kembu kallu, . . Tag.
Lal, . . REIS. Kernpu rai, . . . TEL.
Rubino , IT.
The true oriental ruby, the sapphire, the topaz, and the emerald, though differing greatly in appearance, are chemically the same substance, pure alumina ; but jewellers give this name (0 several other tninemls powwowing brilliant red colour. The oriental ruby is the most valuable of all gems when of large size, good colour, and free from flaws. The ruby in colour varies from the highest rose tint to the deepest carmine, but the most valuable tint is that of pigeon's blood, a pure, deep, rich red, and generally occurs in 6-sided prisms.
The best come from India, Burma, and Ceylon ; Bohemia furnishes an inferior article. They are found in Ava, Siam, the Cupelam mountains, ten days' journey from Syrian a city in Pegu, Ceylon, India. Borneo, Sumatra, on the Elbe, on the Espailly in Auvergne, and Iser in Bohemia. The ruby and sapphire mines of Burrna are 25 tniles south of Moongmeet. Many of the rubies and other precious stones that the Shans bring with them in their annual caravan from the north of Burma, are made of rock-crystal, coloured arti ficially. These are heated and plunged into coloured solutions. Fine rubies have from time to time been discovered in many of the corundum localities of Southern India, associated with this gem, par ticularly in the gneiss at Viralimodos and Sholasi gamany. It occurs also in the Trichingode taluk and at Mallapollaye, but it is, comparatively speaking, rare.
In Ceylon, at Badulla and Saffragam, and also, it is said, at Matura, rubies, sapphires, and topaz are found. Badaklishan ha.s been famed since the time of Marco Polo as the country producing the true balas ruby. Its ruby mines are in the Gharan district, 20 miles from the small Tajak state of Ishkashm, on the right blank of the Oxus. They have not been worked since the Kunduz chief took Badakbshan. Irritated by their small yield, he marched the inhabitants of the district, 500 families, to Kunduz, where Ile sold them as slaves.
Of the accounts of the ruby mines of Burma, one was writt,en by Pere Giuseppe D'Amato, an Italian Jesuit missionary- to Burma, a translation of which appeared in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1833 ; and another account by Mr. Bredmeyer, who about 1870 was in charge of some minor ruby mines within 16 miles of Mandalay. The mines visited by Pere D'Amato are said to be 60 or 70 miles distant from Ava in a north-east direction, and separated from the Irawadi valley by the Shoay-doung or Golden Mountain range, which are only occasionally visible from the town of Male, owing to the conataut fogs and mists that hang around, and snow lies on them for four months of the year, beginning with the middle or end of November. They are situated north-east from Mandalay, and distant about 60 or 70 miles. The principal road to them leaves the Irawadi at Tsiuguh-Myo, and passes through Shuemale. There are other roads, from Ts.ampaynago and other villages to the north. The mines lio nearly duo east from tho The villages in the itntnediate neighbourhood of the mines are Kyatpen, Mogouk, and Katheyuwa. The gents are procured over an area of probably 100 square miles. The mode of seeking for them is simply sinking pits until the gem-bed or ruby earth is met with; this is then raised to the surface and washed. The gern-bed is met with at various depths, somethnes not more than two or three feet from the surface, and occasionally not at all.
_ When the layer of earthy sand containing the rubies is met, lateral shafts are driven in on it, and the bed followed up, until it either becomes necessary to sink another pit in it, or it becomes exhausted. It varies in thickness from a few inches to two or three feet. The rubies are, for the most part, small, not averaging more than a quarter of a rati, and when large are generally full of flaws. Well-marked crystals occasionally occur, but the vast majority of stones are well rounded and ground down. It is very rare to find a large ruby without flaws ; and Mr. Spears states that he bad never seen a perfect ruby weigbitag more than half a rupee. The same authority mentions that sapphires are also found in the same earth with the rubies, but are much more rare, and are generally found of a larger size. Stones of ten or fifteen rati without a flaw are common, whereas a perfect ruby of that size is hardly ever seen. The largest perfect sapphire he ever saw weighed one tikal. It was polished, but he has seen a rough one weighing 25 tikal. For every 500 rubies, he does not think they get oue sapphire. You see very small sapphires in the market, while small rubies are abundant and cheap. The value of the gems, rubies, and sapphires obtained in a year may be from £12,500 to £15,000. They are considered the sole pro perty of the king, and strictly monopolized, but, notwithstanding the care that is taken, considerable quantities are smuggled. There are abont 20 lapidaries or polishers of these stones at Amarapura ; they are not allowed to carry on their trade at the mines. For polishing, small rubies and worthless pebbles brought from the mines, being, pounded fine and mixed up with an adhesive substance, and then made into cakes some ten inches long by four broad, are et»ployed to rub down the gem. After it has been brought to the form and size required, another stone of finer grain is employed. The final -process is per formed by rubbing the ruby on a p_ate of copper or brass until it is thoroughly polished, when the gem is ready for the market. Rubies of Burma are not exported to any large extent, and then only stones of inferior value. But a pink spar found in the ruby district is a more important item of export. It is believed to be used for one of the classes of distinctive mandarin cap-knobs. Great numbers of these gems are brought down to Rangoon for sale, but a heavy price is always demanded for them, and it requires an experi enced eye to purchase them with a view to profit. Topazes are also found in the vicinity of the rubies and sapphires, but they are scarce, and fetch a higher price in Burma than they would realize in England. Recently, rubies and sapphires have been found in Siam, about four days' journey from Bankok, in a very feverish locality. The stones, though inferior to those obtained in Upper Burma., are said by the Burmese to be so plentiful near Bankok, that even women are anVous to pro ceed to the mines. Ceylon ruby is a te applied klyes,i in England to the garnets and carbunc which come from Siam through Ceylon, and a so to peculiar tinted rdmandines. The stones are of a rich red tinged with yellow. They are superior to those of the mine of Zobletz in Silesia, from the Tyrol, and from Hungary. Under the desig nation Ceylon rubies, jewellers obtain a large price for them from the ignorant. A stone of a fine rich tint, free from flaws, of a certain size, will range from £8 to £10.